therapeutic conversation

therapeutic conversation

This nuclear family lives in a low-income area and consists of a father, mother, and two children. The mother is currently seven months pregnant with a third child. The family has no extended relatives who live in the area. The mother’s family lives in Florida and the father’s extended family lives in Maryland.

Father’s family – The father’s parents are deceased due to alcohol-related illness/accidents. The father has one brother who is in jail in Maine for murder.

Mother’s family – The mother’s parents both had a history of type II diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Her father is deceased and her mother is 65 and currently lives in a nursing home in Florida after suffering a major stroke five years ago. The mother has one sister whose whereabouts are unknown.

Father (Bill) – A 37-year-old male who smokes one pack of cigarettes per day and drinks a six-pack of beer each day. Bill has a disability due to a fall from working a construction job three years ago and suffers from depression. There is a history of both verbal and physical abuse toward his wife when he is drunk. No physical or verbal abuse has been noted toward the couple’s children.

Mother (Sally) – A 35-year-old female who has a history of poorly controlled type II diabetes and hypertension. Sally is obese and has a history of PTSD after seeing her father murdered in a drive-by shooting several years ago. Sally is currently seven months pregnant and has had no prenatal care to date.

Son (Aaron) – A 4-year-old child with poorly controlled asthma.

Son (Nathan) – A 3-year-old child with poorly controlled asthma and developmental delays.

No one in the family has seen a physician in the last year for medical or dental care.

The family is Caucasian and has no religious preferences. They live in a modest three-bedroom home that they rent. The home is in poor condition and is located in a high-crime area. The family notes they are poor with limited income that they get from the father’s disability claim, food stamps, and welfare for their two children. The children do have medical coverage through the state, but because of the long distance to a doctor’s office, they have not been to the doctor recently. The family’s only method of transportation is the bus. They have minimal funds to buy toys or other items for the children and note they have no leisure time activities.

There is a long history of marital problems between Bill and Sally, with poor coping skills and poor parenting skills. Sometimes when Bill gets drunk the police are called, and Bill has been charged with domestic violence.

Power structure –Bill makes all the decisions in the family and controls all the finances. Sally is passive and does what her husband tells her to do.

The family eats a diet high in fat, sugar, and calories. The family has limited resources to buy healthy food and limited access to healthy fruits and vegetables. Sally does all the shopping and cooking for the family. The family admits to eating lots of unhealthy snack foods such as chips and cookies.